Britain may need to use military force in Ukraine, says leading Jewish QC Philippe Sands

World

We may need to go to war to defend our values, says Jewish QC Philippe Sands

“If Putin gets away with this it will be a Munich moment”

BY JC Reporter

March 03, 2022 12:05

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Ukraine

Philippe Sands, author, lawyer and international law expert takes part in a panel discussion during a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg war crimes trials in Nuremberg, southern Germany on November 20, 2020. - 75 years after the beginning of the Nuremberg Nazi war crimes trial, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid tribute to its groundbreaking significance for the development of a universal international criminal law. (Photo by Daniel Karmann / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL KARMANN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A leading Jewish expert on international law has warned that Britain and its allies may need to use “military force” to “defend our values” following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Philippe Sands QC (above) told the JC: “We have to ask: is the rules-based international order put in place in 1945 simply over?

“What Russia is doing is a complete assault on it by one of its key architects...

“I am convinced that we have to draw a line in the sand. If Putin gets away with this it really will be a Munich moment that will lead to further conflict. We have to be ready to go much further than sanctions. We have to be willing to use military force to defend our values and an international legal order, based on the rule of law and respect for self-determination and territorial integrity.”